


Hurt

by xsticknoodlesx



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (Nothing Graphic I Promise And Not Depicted), Backstory, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Heart-to-Heart, Minor Injuries, Platonic Relationships, Protective Toph Beifong, Toph Beifong & Zuko Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28087242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xsticknoodlesx/pseuds/xsticknoodlesx
Summary: After Zuko accidentally burns Toph's feet, team Avatar takes him with them and lock him up. Toph goes to check on him because she's sure she hurt him on accident.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 12
Kudos: 48
Collections: ATLA Winter Solstice 2020





	Hurt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [possibilityleft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/gifts).



> Hey, I hope you like it and it's as you imagined it! Happy Holidays and thank you so much at my beta reader haylestorming!
> 
> This contains minor talk of injury, such as Toph asking Zuko if she hurt him, him agreeing, etc. Also, so sorry my title sucks. I'm so bad at titles. 
> 
> Enjoy ^^

“You’re injured.”

Toph felt Zuko wince in his makeshift cell in the Western Air Temple. When he realised it was Toph, he relaxed a little. She was the only one who hadn’t blamed him for burning her feet, even though she’d been the victim. So, when she leaned against the door to his cell, he didn’t feel threatened. For some reason, Toph wasn’t scared of Zuko, not worried that he’d injure or attack her. But she had reason to believe he’d been injured.

“Injured?” He asked in confusion. “I’m not—”

“You can’t lie to me.” Toph shook her head, voice casual as ever. “Even with burned feet, I can still tell if you’re lying. Your heart rate is going up and your laboured breathing makes me believe you are injured.”

“Maybe a little.”

“Did I hurt you?”

“What?”

“When you attacked me I hurtled you backwards with a rock, so did I hurt you?” She insisted voice laced with just a hint of guilt.

Zuko shook his head and Toph perked up at that, feeling the movement through the ground. “Don’t worry about me. I’m your prisoner after all.”

Toph heaved a sigh and shook her head at him. “Zuko, can you just stop lying to me? Did I injure you or did I not?”

“You did.”

Toph swore quietly before she quickly raised her hands, letting the pillars that worked as makeshift prison bars sink to the floor, just for a second so she could step into the cell. Then she re-erected them and turned back to Zuko.

“Aren’t you worried that I’ll hurt you again?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Where did I hurt you?”

“My chest,” Zuko confessed. “You hit me in the chest with the rock.”

Toph nodded. “I should get Katara to help you—"

“No!” Zuko exclaimed quickly. “Don’t get her.”

“But—”

“She hates me,” Zuko hissed. “Don’t get her.”

Toph sighed and slowly sat down on the bed next to Zuko. She felt his heartbeat quicken, his breathing change. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“You don’t have to do anything.”

“I hurt you,” she said sternly. “Shouldn’t I help?”

“Seriously? You want to help me?”

“I hurt you! If I hurt you, I should help you. Who hurts someone and then just—" Toph stopped, swallowing thickly, remembering what Aang told her about the origins of Zuko’s scar. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” Zuko shook his head dismissively, seemingly understanding what Toph meant. “Not your fault.”

“Zuko, we may not be friends, and maybe we’ll never be, but can you just let me help?”

“Why would you want to?” Zuko was looking at her now. “I burned your feet, I tried to capture you, I—”

“And I hurt you!” Toph argued and turned to Zuko. 

“But—”

Zuko arguing back yet again made something in Toph snap. She felt such immense guilt and hurt at that moment that she had to explain herself if only to make Zuko accept her help.

“I never had friends or got to grow up in the real world, you know? I was so sheltered and kept away from the world. When I made a mistake, my parents fixed it. I never had the chance to right my wrongs or fix what I broke. That made me so dependent on them, and I don’t want it to be like that anymore. I don’t want them to fix my mistakes, to clean up after me and to be treated like an incompetent child.”

“Toph, I didn’t mean—"

“I know!” Toph exclaimed in exasperation. “I know you didn’t mean it like that, but it’s just been like that all the time! Poor little blind Toph, unable to fend for herself or to even make up for her mistakes! I am not that person, you know?”

“I know.” Zuko nodded quickly. “I know that. You fought back against me and you fight back against anyone attacking you. I know you’re not incompetent.”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” Zuko said in earnest. “Toph, you are one of the most powerful earth benders I have ever encountered.”

Toph gave a little laugh at that. “How many have you encountered?”

“A fair share.” Zuko shrugged and turned on the bed to face her. “You are far from incompetent and helpless, Toph. You are probably the most powerful and competent earth bender out there. When you came over a few minutes ago, I was actually a little wary that you’d be angry at me and confront me now.”

“You’re flattering me.” Toph joked quietly. She was delighted when she got a little chuckle out of Zuko.

“No, I’m serious.”

“Thank you, Zuko. You’re a pretty decent guy.”

“Thank you.” Zuko said, then sighed. “It’s funny, you know? We’re complete opposites in that regard. When I was small, the smallest mistakes were severely punished.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“That scar on your face, I don’t have any clue what it looks like, but I know where it came from. And I’m really sorry.”

“Thank you.”

Toph sighed and decided to change the topic. “So, you were scared of me? You can bet your butt I’ll use that against you!”

Zuko startled at that. “Don’t you dare!”

“Oh, I will.” Toph was laughing now, delighted to witness Zuko so startled yet relaxed at the same time. It was almost as if they were old friends, bickering and joking. “Prepare yourself to be outed as the—”

“Toph!” Katara came running toward the cell, her heart beating fast when she came to a halt by the door. “I heard loud noises and fighting! Are you okay? Why are you in the cell? Did he—”

“Pull me inside?” Toph huffed, still irritated at Katara and her treatment of Zuko. “How would he do that? I came inside to talk to him. He’s injured. He needs help.”

“How do you know it’s not a trick?” Katara asked in concern. “What if he—”

“Will you stop it?” Toph snapped. “You’re not everyone’s mother!”

“I’m trying to help because you are—you—”

“Why?” Toph huffed. “Do you think poor, little, blind Toph can’t fend for herself? I don’t need your protection, Katara!”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Then what did you mean?”

“You’re injured,” Katara argued. “He burned your feet.”

“I’m fine.” Toph shook her head. “You’d know that, had you listened to me earlier. But he’s not fine. I hurt his chest when I hurtled him back after he burned me.”

Katara deflated at that. “Toph, this could be a trick.”

“It’s not,” she argued. “I’m not stupid, helpless, or naïve. I know tricks better than you or anyone else here. He’s not lying. I can feel his heartbeat and I could tell if he was.”

Katara sighed. “Fine, I’ll get some water from the fountain and then I’ll take a look at it.”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to be so angry at me, though.” Katara added. “I’m just trying to help, you know?”

“By deciding things without asking me first?” Toph crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Katara. “I told you that I was fine, that we don’t need to take Zuko as a prisoner, but you did it anyway. He hurt me, not you! You don’t have to defend me or fix things for me! I’m capable of doing that on my own!”

Katara shook her head. “I’m trying to be your friend!”

“What?” Toph was taken aback now. “But I—”

“And friends help each other.”

“Friends should ask each other first, too, you know?”

Katara heaved a sigh. “Fine. Next time, we’ll ask you first and weigh your opinion more if a similar situation arises.”

“Thank you.” Toph nodded. “Oh, and Katara?”

“Yes?”

“Regardless of the whole throwing Zuko into jail and walking all over me thing, I appreciate you trying to be my friend.”

“That’s so sweet, Toph.”

“Don’t let it go to your head.” Toph nodded at her. “Now get some water to help Zuko, will you?”

“Will do.”

When Katara was gone, Toph turned back to Zuko. And as soon as the prince looked at her, his body relaxed. 

“Thank you,” he said softly. 

“Don’t thank me,” Toph said, sitting back down next to Zuko. “I’m just taking control and finally trying to be in charge of righting my wrongs.”

Zuko sighed. “Your wrongs?”

“I hurt you.”

“In self-defence.”

Toph made a face before sighing softly. “Why did you hurt my feet?”

The fire bender startled. “I—I suppose because I got startled and—and I thought I was going to get attacked, why?”

“Then that was self-defence, too.” Toph shrugged. “Easy as that.”

“But you—"

“Zip it.”

“But I—”

“Zip.” Toph said, more sternly. “No hard feelings between us anymore, alright? Let’s just try to—you know—how do you say it—"

“Start over? Like a fresh start?”

“Yes.” Toph nodded. “Would you like that?”

“I’d love that.” Zuko nodded. “Thank you, Toph.”

“Don’t mention it.” She chuckled. “Now before you start thinking I’m all nice and soft, tell me again why you were scared that I showed up here to confront you? Am I that intimidating?”

“Yes.” Zuko nodded quickly. “I mean, in a good way.”

“Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

“That you’re intimidating?”

When she felt Zuko nodding once again Toph couldn't help but laugh, relieved to find that she had actually managed to make up for hurting him, that she had helped. Zuko seemed much more relaxed than before, leaning back on the bed, his heart rate dropping and Toph was glad that she had decided to come to visit Zuko that night.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it ^^  
> Happy Holidays!


End file.
